Mentor Challenges as a Leader

 

For this assignment, you will create a brief presentation about a challenge your chosen leader faced during a change implementation and how that person overcame that challenge.

Examine at least one change challenge your chosen “invisible mentor” leader faced at some point. How did they overcome that challenge? What are the key takeaways you gain from their experience? If they could say to you, “I made X mistake, and here’s how I overcame it,” what would X be, and how did they overcome it?

Continuing with your chosen leader, identify one change challenge he/she has faced during his/her career, as a leader for an organization. Determine the steps they took to overcome that challenge to be successful. For the assignment, submit the following in a 3-5 minute presentation, including both audio and visual. Be sure to include:

• Description of the challenge.
• Explanation of the barriers and resistances they faced.
• The process/model he/she took to overcome the challenge.
• The final outcome of the change.

Save your assignment as a Microsoft Word document.

Running Head: AN EFFECTIVE AND SUCCESSFUL LEADER 1

AN EFFECTIVE AND SUCCESSFUL LEADER 2

An Effective and Successful Leader

Name

Institution

An Effective and Successful Leader

One of the most successful and effective leaders across the world is the Catholic Church pope. Pope Francis is an effective leader who has moved across the world preaching peace and tolerance among the worrying nations and communities. The Argentinean clergyman has been instrumental in preaching peace across the world and urging people to leave in peace and harmony and in tolerance with one another. His attributes make many people across to admire him and his service to the church and the world at large. Personally, I feel attracted to the pope and consider him my personal and invisible mentor for several reasons.

The pope’s charismatic leadership style of leadership distinguishes him from many other leaders across the world. He is able to connect with many people and understand what message they need and therefore able to express himself further. He sends his message across from a Christian perspective and is able to respond to the spiritual needs of the people (Andreini, Rinallo, Pedeliento & Bergamaschi, 2017). Moreover, the pope leaves a self-less life with simplicities that anyone else can emulate.

Pope Francis loves all and preaches the message of love across the world and wherever he goes. He condemns the acts of violence and hatred against others and prays for an equal opportunity for all. Moreover, he expresses that the church as an institution ought to help its people in healing wounds and preaching peace. This attribute makes one rethink his move and begin loving the people of God because we all have one origin.

The pope remains focused on his message that he sends across the world. He insists that the world leaders should show mercy to the poor and the less fortunate members of the society and not to exploit them (Bender & Arrocha, 2017). Most of the leaders of today have total disregard for the disadvantaged members of the society.

Reference

Andreini, D., Rinallo, D., Pedeliento, G., & Bergamaschi, M. (2017). Brands and Religion in the Secularized Marketplace and Workplace: Insights from the Case of an Italian Hospital Renamed After a Roman Catholic Pope. Journal of Business Ethics, 141(3), 529-550.

Bender, S. W., & Arrocha, W. F. (2017). Introduction. In Compassionate Migration and Regional Policy in the Americas(pp. 1-15). Palgrave Macmillan UK.

Running head: LEADERSHIP STYLE 1

LEADERSHIP STYLE 6

Leadership Style

Student’s name

University affiliation

Leadership Style

An evaluation of your assessment results – do you agree? Why/Why not?

I agree with the evaluation results because being a collaborator; I tend to be humble and perceptive about the needs of other people and the approach that I employ towards leadership is team-first. To ensure the building of effective teams, I always offer support and develop my colleagues through placing them in positions whereby they are likely to excel and also share credit for the success that we have achieved together as a team. Due to this, I can easily attract talent and promote collaboration. This also helps because the team members can perceive me as a supportive person, emphatic and caring (West, Stixrud, & Reger, 2015). I, however, agree that having a strong team orientation can hinder me from developing a convincing identity as a leader at a personal level. To add on to this, I may also end up missing of important opportunities and promotions as a result of being unsung hero due to my inability to showcase my success in a better way.

My first supplemental style is being an energizer. I agree that at times, I tend to focus on the creation and the articulation of a strategic vision. I can generate energy and draw on the energy of the people that I interact with. As a result of this, I can build enthusiasm and inspire other people to put in efforts and achieve a great performance. Many of my colleagues find me as a positive, cooperative and team focused individual, and this assists them in the meaning as well as the purpose of the tasks. On the other hand, I agree with the assessment that at times I tend to be forceful in the presentation of my ideas. It is true that I am courageous and charismatic but at times dismissive of the people who we don’t share the same line of thought.

The second supplemental style is that I am a pilot. From the assessment, this refers to a forward-looking leader who enjoys working in an ambiguous and complex environment which is characterized by significant changes. I agree that when working in such an environment, I can develop strategies and take the necessary action to implement the changes. I agree that I am always open to other people’s input especially the once I trust and hence, in always ask for their point of views regarding the actions that I intend to take. The assessment is true because i also have a high preference for working with teams due to my value for collaborating and clear opinions. However, I agree that at times I appear as a person who is difficult to please, unreflective and end up being disappointed consistently because my level of dynamism and the desire to push for changes fast and hard.

Based on the assessment(s) you took, what would be the style of your “Invisible Mentor?” How do you know? Please provide specific examples.

From the assessment, I feel that the style of my, “Invisible Mentor” who is Pope Francis is an energizer. Leaders who use the energizer style of leadership are aware of the ways of creating and also articulating a strategic vision. These leaders are determined and amiable, and thus, they can generate and also draw on the energy of the people who surround them. This makes it possible and easy for them to build enthusiasm and inspire strong efforts as well as performance in other people. The people who work with the energizer leaders find them to be very collaborative, focused on the team and positive and as a result of this leadership style, they can see the meaning as well as the purpose of the tasks that they have at hand. Energizers are also courageous and charismatic, but from the assessment, they tend to be dismissive of the people whose thoughts are not in line with theirs (Iqbal, 2011).

One of the reasons why I believe that energizer leadership style would fit my invisible mentor because he is a charismatic leader. In this, it is clear that the Pop can connect with the various people that he interacts with, understand the message that they need and hence express himself in the right way. The pop usually his message to the people from a Christian perspective and he can respond to the people’s needs. The other reason is that the Pope can generate and also draw on the energy of the people through preaching the message of love and peace. For instance, he can condemn the acts of violence globally as well as hatred and always prays that people be offered equal opportunities. The pope also works hand in hand with the leaders by insisting that they should show mercy to the less fortunate members of the society as well as the poor and avoid any instances of harassment and exploitation (Bender, & Arrocha, 2017). Pope Francis through his energizer style of leadership has been very instrumental in the preaching of peace all over the world as tolerance among communities and countries at large. The pope urges the people globally to live in peace with each other and as a result of his attributes; he is admired by very many people. However, I feel that the Pop is not dismissive of the people who have similar views from him but rather focuses on letting them know the truth and convincing them to live with peace and harmony with each other while at the same learning to tolerate their differences.

How you compare or differ to your “Invisible Mentor.”

One of the ways I compare with my invisible mentor is that we both focus on the needs of the people that surround us or those that we interact with. In this, as a collaborator, I focus on supporting and developing my colleagues by placing them in areas where they have high chances of excelling while Pope Francis is concerned on the wellness of the other people in the society especially the poor and vulnerable population. The Pope cares for the needs of all the people in the society in that he advocates for peace, harmony and learning to tolerate with each other especially in the countries that are war ranging all over the world. As a result of his attributes, he is admired by many people globally just like I as a collaborative leader can attract talents and encourage the art of collaboration in a team.

One of the differences between my mentor and me is that while is use a team-first approach to leadership, the mentor aims at the creation of vision which is achieved through the generation and the drawing of energy from the people. Personally, I work on the creation of a good working relationship with the people that I interact with so that we can achieve the desired results. As a collaborator, I work towards ensuring that they can work effectively as a team and focus more on the team members and our relationship is likely to hinder me from realizing my strategic vision and planning. The Pope, on the other hand, focuses on bringing the people to work together towards the realization of the vision set because of the high- energy as well as his future-focused approach usually compels the people who he interacts with and those surrounding him to get on board with his plans. He emphasizes to the people on the need to come together and achieve peace which can be done through living in peace, harmony, and learning to respect each other’s differences.

In conclusion, it is clear that different leaders have different leadership styles. Collaborative leaders are likely to thrive in areas where people need others to support their developments and invest in their successes; people are expected to learn the various tools of the trade and the style needed for use is relational, collaborative and supportive. Leaders using energizer leadership style are effective where visionary and strategic leadership is needed, where people exert influence through relationships, where the working environment is purposeful and collaborative and where a dose of positive perspective is required (Kippenberger, 2002).

References

Bender, S. W., & Arrocha, W. F. (2017). Introduction In Compassionate Migration and Regional Policy in the Americas(pp. 1-15). Palgrave Macmillan UK.

Iqbal, T. (2011). The impact of leadership styles on organizational effectiveness : Analytical study of selected organizations in IT sector in Karachi. Munich: Grin Verlag.

Kippenberger, T. (2002). Leadership styles. Oxford, U.K: Capstone Pub.

West, K., Stixrud, E., & Reger, B., (2015). Assessment: What’s Your Leadership Style? Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from

https://hbr.org/2015/06/assessment-whats-your-leadership-style

Running Head: Leadership Style 1

Leadership Style 3

Leadership Style:

NAME:

PROFESSOR:

UNIT:

DATE:

Examine yourself using leadership theories, and determine the best theory you should use

From self-examination, I find that naturally I tend to wish the best for my followers regardless of their position. This way, I am able to get the best out of them. My main leadership goal is always to ensure that my followers feel empowered from inside to give their best. This is from the understanding that a team synergy will most likely help me in accomplish objectives easily (Jackson, Schuler, & Werner, 2009). While empowering my followers, I am also able to promote talent and create a bond with them in our working relations.

Being such kind of a leader does not come without its share of challenges. Firstly I have loose chances of winning promotions since, despite accomplishing group objectives; I don’t really come out clearly as the “captain of the ship”. My superiors tend to consider me lucky to have a great team around me since I rarely showcase my control. Secondly, I do not afford the decorum of a man with authority among my followers. This so because in our working relationship we bond as team members whereby each one of us has their distinct role to play. This way am not able to distinguish myself as the authoritative master, rather I just come out as the leader simply playing his role.

However, despite these and other challenges, I still consider charismatic leadership style as the best choice to lead my crew. This is primarily because I work with team and to meet group goals, any leader should have the team come first before his self-interests (Adair, 2013).

Comparing my leadership theory to that my “invisible mentor” portrays.

Personally I regard Pope Francis as my, “Invisible Mentor”. Despite being a religious figure to many, and especially those of catholic faith, the pope is able to transcend the religious bounds and preach peace to every one regardless of religious affiliation (Francis, 2016). He is able to connect with others at a personal basis and this way his message is received deeply. At this level, he is able to create an endearing bond that wins him authority as a Father. Comparing my leadership to his, I feel we both share empathy as a way to lead others. This is whereby as a leader one becomes perceptive to others personal needs both within and outside the work environment (Francis, 2016). By being empathetic, a leader is able to win the loyalty of his followers. Additionally, one is also able to work with others effectively given that he understands the strengths and weaknesses of others.

However, given his jurisdiction, the pope works to create an environment whereby people can development themselves. His message is that for economies to bloom and anything to work, there has to be peaceful environment. This is an approach of leadership different from mine. Given my job description, I tend to work on strategizing plans without giving consideration to the environment on which they have to be executed. I tend to push for strategies to be realized regardless of the environment my team players are in. To better my leadership, I take it as a personal initiative to be more mindful of the environment within which we operate as a team. This is so given that a motivating environment goes a long way in helping team players gives their best in the work place (Jackson, Schuler, & Werner, 2009). Being in touch with their feelings should be complement with tending to my followers’ needs. This way I could gain both their loyalty and commitment towards giving their personal best which would make me a more effective leader.

References

Adair, J. (2013). Develop your leadership skills. Philadelphia, Pa: Kogan Page Ltd.

Francis. (2016). The Allure of Goodness and Love: Pope Francis in the United States Complete Texts. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press.

Jackson, S. E., Schuler, R. S., & Werner, S. (2009). Managing human resources (p. 358). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning. MIT press